Hermana Inman Letter March 24, 2014

Me encanta la mission y no quiero salir!

Maricruz went to 2 baptisms this weekend!! She is on fire. She came to church again as well, then we ate dinner with her and her LDS roommates before our lesson after church.  We asked her what she was feeling and what she thought about everything she has learned so far and this is what she said, "I've been reading the Book of Mormon every day, and I know it's true.  I've been praying and asking for help to understand and find the truth, and when I read this book, it always talks about Jesus Christ and teaches the same things as the Bible, and I just know it's true!  But now I can't go back!  I should have never picked up that book because now I know it's true and would be sinning if I ever went back to where I was before!" :) she's such a neat and spiritual lady! She's been getting a lot of resistance from her family and she's just been telling them that she feels good at this church and they're just going to have to get used to it because she's not leaving anytime soon.  She also mentioned that eventually she would probably be baptized, but Hermana Woodruff and I were prompted to not invite her yet, so we haven't, although I'm sure she will soon be ready!  We're seeing her tomorrow to teach her about the Plan of Salvation.  Yesterday we taught her about the Godhead, and how they are three separate beings, which is different from what she was taught in her other church, so that's one of the harder things for her to accept right now.  You can imagine- if you had been raised thinking they were just one person your whole life and all the sudden you're told they're 3, that would be a little confusing and hard to accept at first.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have of the Godhead; it makes perfect sense and really brings peace.

 

We got to teach Viviana this week, finally!  She didn't read in the Book of Mormon so we read Alma 40 with her- she has lots of questions about life after death, so the chapter was perfect for her. She voiced some concerns to us as well, which is good.  That means she trusts us enough to open up and to ask real questions, and for help.  She has two sons that are gay, and they are worried about what will happen if she joins our church- they're afraid they won't be accepted.  It's a fair concern!  We referred her to our church's website about our church's view on homosexuality (mormonsandgays.org).  Hopefully that helped to answer some of their concerns.  We explained to her God's love for ALL of His children, but also that we do not support homosexual actions.  One of her gay sons joined us for the closing prayer the other day though, which was really cool! 

 

Last night the other sisters in our ward had a baptism for a 10 year old girl and Hermana Woodruff and I were asked to teach the Restoration to the congregation while she was changing from her wet clothes.  I cannot count how many times I have taught the Restoration on my mission, it's been probably close to half a million, but every time I share it, the Spirit bears witness to me that it is true, sometimes more stronger than others.  As we were about to finish teaching, we bore our testimonies, and as I began to bear mine of the Book of Mormon, I just started to sob.  I couldn't stop it and it was so embarrassing.  I was so overcome with the Spirit and I received such a strong witness again that it is true.  I know that it is with all my heart I just want everyone to have what I have! I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know it I know it.  I think I was also overcome with my emotions, with everything that is happening right now.  We are teaching some people who have been truly prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I'm filled with so many mixed emotions as I end my mission.  I truly love my mission.  It means everything to me and I love these people, I love these experiences, and in a way I wish I could just be a set-apart full time missionary for the rest of my life.  My heart is sad to be leaving so soon, and it has really hit me hard this week.  I try not to think about it, but my spirit knows it's coming, and it is really a sad feeling to be leaving something that you love so much.  I do love my family and I am so excited to see you guys, but I am also anxious and nervous to come back.  It's a scary thing. 

 

Anyway, exchanges went well this week, and Heavenly Father helped me to be healthy enough during our Zone Training on Wednesday.  Thanks for your prayers - it's helping!  I'm feeling much better and will be back in full force in no time.

 

I'm glad that you were able to go to the temple this week and feel the Spirit that is there, and receive the guidance that was needed.  I love the temple. 

 

I'm glad the lessons (lecciones, not charlas) are going well with Tawnya and Lauren and that Quinn wants to join too!  It sounds like it was a spiritual lesson. THE GOSPEL BLESSES FAMILIES.

 

We're finger painting and making fruit salads at our district activity today haha should be fun.  And the flowers are blooming in the Carlsbad Flower Fields which is in our ward boundaries, so we'll be doing that soon too :).  What a great area to be in, I am so blessed in so many ways!

 

I love you all!  I hope you are all well and healthy and that you have a great week.  Be strong and remember Heavenly Father and the Savior in all things. 

 

Love,

Hermana Inman

Hermana Inman Letter March 17, 2014

Lucky me to be a missionary

We picked up a new investigator this week named Maricruz.  She's a roommate to a family in the ward and has a lot of questions, so Wednesday afternoon Yasmin texted us and said "hey, I have a friend who has a lot of questions and wants to talk to you, can you be at my house at 1pm tomorrow?"  and we said OF COURSE!  So we went to the lesson the next day and taught her about the restoration.  She had so many great questions and is thirsty for the truth.  She's been to church 2 weeks in a row now and loves it :)  it's just hard for her to accept some things because she is a baptized Apostolic, and we believe things differently, but she has seen the blessing the gospel has been for Yasmin and her family and she wants the same things for her 2 boys. We don't have a baptismal date with her yet, but she has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and is awesome.

 

We helped the Palacios family have their very first Family Home Evening last night, and it was so precious :) the spirit was there and the family enjoyed time together without any fighting or electronics.  They called us at 6:45 and said "sisters! are you on your way yet?!  we're all so anxious!  We need to start right on time because we can't wait!"  So when we showed up at 7:00, they were all sitting in the kitchen/living room on top of blankets they had set out for FHE, picnic style.  They each did their "jobs" (we made a rotating- jobs board for FHE earlier this week), so Carlos was the "conductor," Leti was in charge of the opening song, grandma gave the prayer, Vanessa gave the lesson, etc. etc.  It was so sweet and cute.  I really love that family. They've made so many changes and are so strong.  We got to go on an actual picnic with them this week and the kids just ran and laughed and played outside- they loved it. They never get out of the house and they've been begging us every day since to take them on another picnic. It was fun- when we met at their house before the picnic we told them to leave behind all of their videogames and to only take the food we needed- then related it to Lehi's family in 1 Nephi leaving Jerusalem and leaving behind all of their precious things.  Then, when we got to "the wilderness"(park),  we told the boys that they needed to go back and get "the plates" aka the scriptures.  It was a fun way for them to understand one of the stories in the Book of Mormon.  

 

Hermana Woodruff is better!  We found out that she is gluten intolerant.  After all this time, that's all it was.  We're so happy for her that she's healthy now and can fix the problem she's had for years! 

I'm a little sickly this week- I have a bad sinus infection (again... that always happens).  I just hope it goes away ASAP because I have 3 exchanges this week and zone training that I have to train in.

 

We had another experience this week kind of like the one we had with Robbie.  Do you remember her? This man like Robbie was contemplating taking his own life that day and we knocked on his door at just the right time.  We didn't go inside, but we talked to him for awhile on his front porch, and I really hope and pray that something we said to him brought the spirit and helped him change his mind.  The Lord's timing in impeccable.

 

I'm glad Torie had a good birthday :).  It's hard to believe that she's 18!  I can tell she's changed a lot in the last year and a half.  I'm excited to be her roommate soon :).  I would like to take a couple online classes this summer 2nd block before I go up there in the fall.  Just get some generals out of the way.  Sweet that there's some RM discounts!  I'm all about that! Mom that's neat that BYU-I was ranked for most attractive and smartest- #16, not too bad!  I'd have to agree!  I love it there!

 

That's exciting to hear about all of the mission calls!  Those are neat places to go! I'm excited to hear about the next lesson with Tawnya and Lauren.  The missionaries will be guided by the spirit and know what to do.

 

I love you all and miss you!  Have a great week!

 

Love,

Hermana Inman

 

The Palacios - I love these people

 

Hermana Inman Letter March 10, 2014

Blessed sweet transfers!

I'M STAYING IN OCEANSIDE WITH HERMANA WOODRUFF!!! :D

It's a miracle!  What a wonderful way to end your mission!!! Today I'd just like to tell you about Leti.  Leti is part of the Palacios family, she's the one who wants to be baptized so bad but her "husband" won't let her.  Leti prays and reads in the Book of Mormon every day, she is at church every week with her kids, she watches the Mormon channel with her kids each week, sings hymns with her kids and reads the scriptures in front of her husband so he has to listen to the gospel... the list goes on and on.  She is stronger than most members I know in this church.  It's time for her to be baptized, so if you all could please just keep her in your prayers these next few weeks and maybe even put her name in the temple, we would all be ever so grateful for the miracles that will come.  The day that Leti gets baptized will be one of the happiest days of my entire life, and if she was the only baptism I ever had on my mission it would be worth it for her (of course the mission would all be worth it even if I didn't baptize, but you know what I mean). 

Vanessa Palacios is staying strong :)  the entire Palacios family was at church yesterday minus Leti's husband and his brother (Vanessa's dad).  Then, the Pereyla family came :) we've been working with them, AND, Jacobo came to sacrament meeting all by himself!!!!!!! And he actually made it in time to participate in the sacrament!  He usually comes late, so this was the first time he had ever seen it. Another lady we've been working with came. The entire left side of the chapel was filled with people just from our area that we've been working with- I can't even express the joy that that brings :).  We've been able to really develop strong relationships with the less-active members in our area these last few months and it is so rewarding to see them returning back to church.  It's that same joy you feel when somebody gets baptized.

Today is my 17 month mark in the mission.  It's bitter sweet.  I'm bringing out the "greenie fire" that all the new missionaries have and am going to give this last transfer everything that I've got. Sprint to the finish, as they say.  :)

I truly love this gospel and I am so grateful for the blessing it is to serve a full-time mission.  I would never trade it for anything.  It truly is "the best two years" (or 18 months).

 

I'm glad that Jesse got to start his volunteer job this week and that he enjoys it :) those kids are so lucky to have a friend like Jesse to help them.  Jesse will like this- this week at dinner I showed a 13 year old girl in our ward a picture of our family, and the mom thought that Jake was really cute, but the daughter said, "no, I like the younger one.  He's cuter."  haha!  Somebody has a crush on Jesse!

Congratulations Torie on everything you're doing, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I LOVE YOU!  Your card is in the mail. And WOO HOO! for BYU-Idaho!  Let's be roommates.  Cedar Apartments were nice, but it might be fun to go somewhere else.  Look around and maybe check out Nauvoo housing and Carriage house, too- I've heard good things about them.  Check out some others too and tell me what you think/find. Ones that have their laundry machines inside their own apartment are really nice.

I hope you all enjoy spring break! It will be pretty busy over here in CA this week- the weather is absolutely PERFECT and there's just enough wind so you know that the waves are really good, too.

 

I'm glad the missionaries in your ward are working so hard.  What a blessing.  How neat that we have so many serving from our ward, as well.  The work is hastening! I hope the lesson with them goes well this week!

Have a great week, everyone and be safe! The gospel is true!

Love,

Hermana Inman

Hermana Inman Letter March 3, 2014

BAPTISM!!

 

VANESSA PALACIOS GOT BAPTIZED!!!  She called us Wednesday night at 9:24pm and said that her dad had just given her permission to be baptized!  So we planned the baptism in 2 days, and it was crazy!  But everything worked out and the service was smooth and filled with the Spirit.  We had a huge turnout, and there were several investigators there, including a deaf lady that we found last week, who ended up being Vanessa's aunt!  How cool is that?!  We went over to Vanessa's house before the baptism to help the family get everything ready and when we walked in, the deaf lady that Hna. Woodruff talked to in the street was sitting there at the kitchen table!  Small world!  No coincidences!  And, Vanessa's mom Mariela told us that she's been telling Lupe to come to church but she's been afraid to because she didn't have anybody to translate for her, but Hermana Woodruff translated the entire baptism for her on Saturday and will translate church for her hopefully this Sunday. 

I'm so happy to hear about the Gilbert Temple dedication!  Not even the bad weather can stop such a beautiful celebration!  We are so blessed to have so many temples so near to us.  I got to go to the San Diego temple on Tuesday and it was wonderful and certainly needed.  I especially enjoyed the celestial room this time and received some divine revelation and comfort.

It's been very stormy over here, too.  Rain and wind storms all week long!  The sidewalk to our apartment was flooded with a foot of water for a few days this week, so we got to trudge through that in our skirts haha.  Good times! I really enjoyed your rain story mom! haha that's awesome!

Before the weather was bad on Monday, we went to the Oceanside Pier as a district and it was so fun!! The ocean is beautiful!!! We got to go fishing over the pier (although we didn't catch anything but hungry pelicans and seagulls), and we got to just enjoy the beautiful scenery.  It's a lot prettier than Jake's 5 ft of snow! Holy cow! I can't imagine tracting in that.

I'm glad you enjoyed your package mom :) I hope the rest of your birthday was okay. 

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO JENSEN ON HIS MISSION CALL!! Washington DC South!  Woo!! That's Awesome!!!! Wow, he and shane leave the same day, huh? That's so neat!

Transfer calls are this week.  I really hope I get to stay here for my last transfer. Weird. 

I love you all and miss you very much.  I want you to know that I know this church is true.  I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I would not trade this opportunity for anything.  I have a testimony of repentance.  It is such a blessing and gift in our lives and I'm so grateful for our Savior for making it possible for us to be clean and return to live in His presence again someday with our families. I'm grateful for how merciful our Heavenly Father is.  I feel His love daily.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Hermana Inman
 

P.S. I got to see Sister MacKay when I was on exchanges this week, it was so great to see her :). Exchanges are a long story, but I'm glad they're done!

 

Hermana Inman Letter February 24, 2014

Woo!

this week was much better.  We had the opportunity to work so much more, and we picked up 4 new investigators!  2 families!  Yesterday afternoon we began to knock doors, and the very first door we knocked let us in to share a message.  At first Ricardo and his wife Carolina were very closed off and were trying to disprove our message.  We answered a few of his sincere questions about the godhead, and then used "how to begin teaching" (it's in Preach My Gospel chapter 10).  We then said a prayer (at first he said no we could not pray with him, but the spirit moved him, and he agreed to let us pray).  We then shared with him the message of the restoration, and although we did not get to finish, we answered some of the questions of his soul, and within the 40 minutes that we were there, Ricardo and his family did a complete 360, we saw the spirit work in them, and they invited us back, agreed to read the Book of Mormon, and Ricardo even said the prayer at the end of the lesson.  What a miracle and what a wonderful experience. Hermana Woodruff picked up 2 other investigators when we were on exchanges this week- Enedina and Natalie, a mom and daughter!  We're teaching so many families right now and it is WONDERFUL!  I love teaching families!  That's what it's all about!! This weekend is supposed to be Vanessa's baptism... we're just waiting for her dad to say yes... the whole family is trying to get him to say yes... so we'll see what happens!  Isaac is well, he's reading in the Book of Mormon and answers and returns our calls, so that's really good.  We're seeing him on Thursday.

Exchanges went well, I have one more this week, and probably one next week because I need to go on an emergency exchange with one of the sisters... JUST BE GOOD MISSIONARIES FOR GOODNESS SAKE. But I thoroughly enjoyed my exchange with most of the sisters and they blow my mind and teach me so much.  Zone conference was good. Hermana Woodruff has been feeling better this week and has a follow up appointment next week with the doctor about what they found in her procedure that they did. Hopefully it will give her some answers and help her be permanently better.  Did I ever tell you that my companion speaks ASL? She does!  Fluently!  And so we keep running into deaf people and she's been able to teach them.  Last night we ran into another deaf lady, and she's Hispanic   So, I'll get to teach her family in Spanish while Hermana Woodruff translates for Lupe in American Sign Language!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!!!  Also, we get to go to the San Diego temple tomorrow :D I'm so excited.  It's been too long! Oh, guess what?  I ate dinner in a $25 Million House this week on one of my exchanges!  I'm not even exaggerating.  twenty five million dollar home.  I felt like a nasty fly in that house.... I belong in Spanish work for sure. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sending a card to you in the mail today, sorry it will come a few days late.  I hope you have a good birthday mom!  You deserve it!  I love you!! You are the best mom in this world and I am so grateful for you. 

I got the Valentine package!  Thank you!! It's yummy :). 

I'm so happy to hear about Jesse's volunteer job :)  that's perfect for him. Congratulations Torie on your acceptance to BYU-I!! :). Shooting guns sounds like it was so much fun!!  I wouldn't mind if our family invested in some guns and picked up a new hobby....

Anyway, time is up.  I love you all and miss you!  Have a great week!  Happy Birthday mom!

I'm healthy.

 

Love,

Hermana Inman

 

p.s. no I did not eat the fish eyeballs. 

 

I saw sister mackay at zone conference :)  and this is the daily sunset I get to see